Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 592 The clash between the Taishan's first-generation fighter and the Il-16, at a Soviet field airfield.
The three-hour wait wasn't long.

Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng didn't leave the plane either; they just sat on the grass next to the parking area and waited.

Not far away, Ivan and his three fellow pilots were busy carrying large and small bags of supplies into the cabin.

Halfway through his work, Ivan asked Fang Wen to help him appraise a "Chinese-style souvenir" that he was planning to take home but didn't know its purpose.

“Fang, take a look. What are we going to do with all this stuff we bought?” Ivan placed two items on the grass in front of Fang Wen.

Fang Wen looked over and saw three pairs of red satin embroidered shoes with mandarin ducks on them, and a stack of yellow paper with incomprehensible, flamboyant writing.

"These shoes are the wedding shoes that Chinese girls wear when they get married. Who are you taking them back for?"

“These are wedding shoes, right? That’s what I said when I bought them; they’re for my daughter,” Ivan replied with a smile.

Fang Wen looked at the stack of yellow papers again. He really didn't know about them, but Gong Xiu did.

Gong Xiuneng pointed to the yellow paper package and said, "It's a peace talisman. Take it home and stick it on the door frame of your house to protect your home. Who made it for you?"

Fang Wen translated the message into Russian for Ivan, who then provided an explanation.

"There's a Baiyun Temple near the airport that enshrines this Chinese deity named Li Daobing. Many refugees who retreated to Lanzhou live there. I went there once, and the Taoist priest there, upon hearing that I flew a plane and fought against the Japanese army, gave me this. He also said a lot, but the translator didn't know how to explain it, and I couldn't understand it either. It should be what your bodyguard said."

Li Daobing?
Fang Wen seems to have a translation problem; if it were transliterated, it might be Lü Dongbin.

He smiled and said, "We Chinese are all grateful and repay kindness. Even monks know about your help in the fight against Japan."

Ivan, the Soviet, didn't think he was anything special. He just chuckled as he packed the things away and put them into the cockpit.

Three hours have passed; it's time to set off.

Ivan jogged over again.

"Fang, how about we have a competition?"

"What are we competing in?" Fang Wen asked.

"We are lined up in parallel in the air, from Lanzhou to Baotou, let's see who gets there first."

"Okay."

Fang Wen readily agreed.

Although the Il-16 has been improved, with its engine replaced by the M-63 engine and a 20mm cannon added to the nose, Fang Wen does not believe that it can beat the Qinyuan in a speed contest.

Immediately afterwards, the pilots of the three Il-16s and one Taishan first-generation aircraft boarded their planes and prepared for takeoff.

Ivan's plane was the first to taxi onto the runway and accelerate into the air.

Two Il-16s then took off, with Fang Wen's first-generation aircraft being the last to fly.

The four aircraft first found their positions at an altitude of 3000 meters, as agreed, and then flew in parallel.

All of them were experienced pilots who communicated with each other using maneuvers instead of words, and quickly completed the formation maneuvers agreed upon on the ground.

The four planes were parallel, as if they were on the same starting line.

Ivan, positioned to Fang Wen's left, made a takeoff gesture and took the lead in accelerating.

The other two Il-16s also accelerated and sped off.

At this moment, Fang Wencai increased the engine power and caught up.

The tachometer needle on the dashboard steadily moved toward the maximum power range, while the speedometer reading was rapidly climbing from 400 kilometers per hour.

In the airspace to the left ahead, Ivan's Il-16 had already left a white contrail, with two other Il-16s following closely behind, their wings gleaming silver-gray in the sunlight, like three speeding arrowheads.

It's clear that Ivan and his team really want to win; they've pushed the engine power to its maximum, and the speed has exceeded 500 km/h, approaching 520 km/h.

But this speed is already the limit for the Il-16, and it cannot be increased any further.

However, there is still room for improvement for the first generation of the Taishan machine.

Fang Wen lightly pressed the control stick, and the fuselage of the first-generation machine trembled slightly. The engine emitted a deep roar, and the speedometer reading instantly broke through 500 kilometers per hour and was still increasing.

The trajectory of the Il-16, which was originally ahead, is closing in at a visible speed.

In the cockpit, Ivan glanced at the approaching first-generation aircraft through the rearview mirror, his brow furrowing immediately. He knew that the upgraded Il-16-24's top speed was 525 kilometers per hour. In an attempt to get ahead, he had already pushed the engine to 80% power, and now that the engine was at its limit, it was impossible to exceed that speed.

But this Chinese-made propeller plane caught up at the same speed.

No, Ivan's pupils contracted slightly; the speed of the plane Fang Wen was piloting was actually increasing.

Such a high-speed aerial chase, in the blink of an eye, caught up to the side and rear.

In an attempt to avoid being overtaken, Ivan slammed on the throttle to increase speed, but the speedometer on the dashboard was stuck at 515 kilometers per hour and couldn't go any higher—the M-63 engine had reached its limit.

Faced with this situation, Ivan had no choice but to place his hopes of winning on his two comrades.

But how much difference can there be between aircraft of the same model?

Fang Wen also overtook the other two Il-16s.

Of course, the competition was not over yet, and the three Soviet pilots would not admit defeat so easily. Immediately, the three Il-16s chased after the Taishan first-generation aircraft and flew towards Baotou.

The flight distance from Lanzhou to Baotou is 700 kilometers.

Under normal flight conditions, the Il-16 would arrive in one hour and forty minutes. However, while chasing Fang Wen, the three Il-16s maintained a high speed of 500 kilometers per hour and completed the entire journey in just one hour and twenty-six minutes.

Seeing the Yellow River below and Baotou City on its north bank, Fang Wen slowed down.

Baotou is already a Japanese war zone, so the upcoming flights cannot be taken lightly and must be treated with utmost care.

Immediately, Fang Wen used mechanical sensing in conjunction with the radar target acquisition device to search the nearby airspace.

Within a 300-kilometer radius of detection range, apart from feedback from our own three spacecraft, there were no other warning signals.

This is normal, after all, this area is sparsely populated and the Japanese army did not station many troops here, and the air force would not patrol here.

At this moment, the three Il-16s finally caught up with Fang Wen, who was slowing down, and the four fighter jets flew parallel to each other again.

In the Il-16 to Fang Wen's left, Ivan still had a hint of resentment on his face. He made a "thumbs up" gesture and then communicated with gestures.

You've won. Now I'll lead the way, and you have to follow me.

Fang Wen responded with a gesture.

【OK. 】

After the communication was completed, Ivan's Il-16 took the lead, followed by Fang Wen and two other Il-16s.

Fly north from Baotou.

They crossed the border directly into Outer Mongolia.

During the subsequent flights, Ivan didn't know the exact landing location; he simply flew in the predetermined direction based on experience. As time went on, Fang Wen detected more and more flight signals from the radar detection device.

There were a great many of them, nearly a hundred aircraft sending signals in the northeast-east direction.

And that was also the place Ivan was heading to.

Fang Wen was alert to the feedback from the radar detection device, but time was of the essence and there was no radio device to communicate with Ivan, so he could only be extra careful.

Ten minutes later, rows of military camps appeared below.

A large number of Soviet troops, along with tanks and artillery, were assembled together.

Near the military camp, there are also four field airfields of varying sizes.

Meanwhile, in the distant sky, a large-scale air battle was underway.

As Fang Wen piloted his plane to prepare for landing, he kept an eye on the aerial combat situation in the distance.

The horizon there was stained gray-black by thick smoke, and plumes of black smoke from anti-aircraft gun blasts filled the air.

However, these anti-aircraft guns can only deal with aircraft loitering on the periphery.

More often than not, it was a close-quarters battle between the two sides' fighter jets in the air.

The intensity of the air battle here was even greater than that of the Shanghai air battle, after all, the Soviet Union had a much larger number of aircraft and a stronger weaponry than the Nationalist Air Force at the time.

Fighter jets weaved and fought among the clouds, the sunlight reflected from their wings mingling with the flames of explosions. Occasionally, fighter jets would explode in mid-air or fall to the ground smoking.

Among these aircraft, the Soviet Union was equipped with a large number of Il-16 fighters, but in terms of performance, some were new and some were old. The new ones were the Il-16-24 model that Ivan flew, which had a better engine, as well as a 20mm cannon and an aircraft machine gun. The older ones were the early Il-16-18 models, whose engines were not modified, but were equipped with a 20mm cannon.

In addition to the Il-16, the Soviet Union also had some Il-15 biplanes and an Il-153 biplane, which was an improvement on the Il-15.

On the Japanese side, their main fighter jet was the Type 97 fighter (K27). The performance of this aircraft is quite clear: it is stronger than the early models of the Il-16, but weaker than the current improved versions of the Il-16.

In addition, some Japanese biplanes also participated in the battle, namely the Type 95 biplane fighters deployed by the Kwantung Army in Northeast China.

From this perspective, the difference in aerial power between the two sides is actually not that great.

The key lies in the quality of the fighter pilots and the tactical arrangements.

At this moment, Ivan had already begun to land at the field airfield. Fang Wen immediately withdrew his mechanical senses and followed him to land on the airfield.

Four aircraft landed at the field airfield.

Guided by airport ground staff, Fang Wen controlled the aircraft to leave the runway and park it at the parking area.

He then dropped the rope ladder and climbed off the plane first.

Not far away, Ivan came over with an officer.

"Fang, he is Major Sergei, who received you."

Fang Wen was familiar with the Soviet military ranks.

Major was a mid-level officer in the Soviet Army, while the Soviet Air Force had its own rank regulations.

For example, a machine gunner is a private first class, a junior pilot is a second lieutenant, a fighter pilot is a lieutenant, a bomber pilot is a captain, and above that, starting from major, are the management officers of the Air Force.

Therefore, the Soviet Union attached great importance to Fang Wen's arrival as a military observer.

Fang Wen smiled and shook hands with Major Sergei.

"Hello, I am Fang Wen, a military technology exchange personnel and military observer from Taishan Military Industry."

“I’m glad you could come. I know your name; you’re quite famous in the Air Force circle,” Sergei replied with admiration. “I’ve read reports about you. In Air Force training courses, instructors have also mentioned your stories, such as when you fought against Japanese fighters in a Boeing P-26B over the Bohai Sea, and after shooting down an enemy plane, you successfully escaped the encirclement of 12 enemy aircraft. The flight maneuvers you used at that time have been hailed as classic cases of early monoplane combat.”

Fang Wen was very surprised, never expecting that his duel with the Japanese noble pilot over the Bohai Sea would have such a big impact.

He speculated that among those watching the battle from a boat in the Bohai Bay at the time, there must have been Soviet personnel, which explains the relatively detailed description of that aerial battle.

But several years have passed since then, and piloting skills, combat experience, and aircraft performance have all improved significantly. If it happened again, Fang Wen would not run away, but would shoot down at least half of the enemy planes.

Pushing aside his thoughts, Fang Wen continued his conversation with Sergei.

"Major, what are your plans for me?"

"You saw the air battle just now. We have entered the stage of direct warfare with the Japanese army. Larger-scale conflicts will occur, and the danger will increase significantly. As a military observer, I suggest that you do not approach the battlefield, but interview our pilots instead, so that there will be no accidents."

Sergei had previously praised Fang Wen for his prowess, but now he was unwilling to let Fang Wen go to the front lines to watch the battle, which greatly disappointed Fang Wen.

But since this was Soviet territory, he still had to follow their arrangements and see if there was any chance to change the situation.

Fang Wen outwardly agreed to Major Sergei's arrangement and requested an area for storing ammunition so that he could unload the ammunition he was carrying.

Major Sergei readily agreed and set aside a small area for Fang Wen to store ammunition in the hangar next to the parking area.

Immediately, Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng took matters into their own hands and removed the aerial rockets one by one from the ammunition rack in the rear cockpit and carried them into the hangar.

During this process, Major Sergei, who was accompanying Fang Wen, wanted to ask for help, but Fang Wen refused.

"The safety and triggering devices of our air-to-ground rockets are different from yours. In order to avoid accidents during loading and unloading, let's do it ourselves."

Major Sergei did not insist on this, and the conversation smoothly progressed to the Taishan first-generation aircraft and rocket launchers.

Sergei surveyed the first-generation aircraft and the rocket launchers mounted on its wings.

"This is your high-speed fighter jet. How are its performances?"

Fang Wen revealed some data about the first-generation machine.

Sergei was somewhat surprised by these figures.

It's 10 percent faster than the Il-16, and it balances agility and offense, which seems pretty good.

However, Sergei was not very satisfied with the fact that this aircraft was produced by the Chinese aircraft manufacturing plant.

Fang Wen did not elaborate further. Some things need to be proven in practice; no amount of talking is as effective as demonstrating them to the other party.

After the spare ammunition was unloaded, Major Sergei assigned two Soviet soldiers to guard the aircraft and ammunition.

He then took Fang Wen and Gong Xiuneng to the fighter pilot camp, intending to take Fang Wen there for an interview.

After crossing the airport runway, they arrived at the pilots' camp on the other side of the airport. Sergei first led Fang Wen to a room in the right corner of the camp and took out a key to open the door.

"This is where you'll rest; there are two beds. You can leave your belongings in the room. There's only one key, so please keep it safe."

Fang Wen took the key and handed it to Gong Xiuneng. The two of them put their personal belongings in the room, closed the door, and followed Sergei to the other side of the camp.

There, Sergei selected several Soviet pilots and introduced them to Fang Wen.

"They were the pilots who launched a salvo attack on the Japanese army with aerial rockets. If you are interested in that rocket combat, you can ask them."

(End of this chapter)